Tag: Dogs

Playin’ Possum

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Wow-wee, it got cold this week! And blustery and rainy and goodness, fall is starting to feel very much like early winter. I’ve gone ahead and changed the site to fall colors, I’ll probably end up changing the banner again if we get some colors, but that cute little tree in the pasture might just about it. Which I’m grateful for, don’t get me wrong.

Its feeling really odd for fall, which seems to be the theme of the year, because it’s alternating strongly between “it’s still summer!” And “if you blink there will suddenly be snow”… but as for fall feelings? Not a ton of those. It really can’t decide if it’s like to be a long summery slope into a brisk autumn or a free fall plummet into winter. Seems like each day it changes its course.

We’ve been winterizing where we can around the farm, it’s a little difficult when one day everything desperately needs water to stay healthy in the midday warmth and the next, you’re worrying about overnight freezing. We’ve pulled the irrigation pump setup for the year and emptied the system. Seems like no matter how well we winterize the system each year, there’s one little brass fitting that fails every single season, so this year we pulled it completely off the pump and it has pride of place on a shelf in the warm basement. We shall see if that fixes the problem. It’s a pricey little piece to lose every year, and also, it’s just ridiculously annoying to fix again come springtime.

The house irrigation is a fancy mess that we have someone come help us with. It’s a computer run system with fancy automated valves, and it has never consistently run right, so we have professionals come handle the winterization for us. I don’t want to accidentally flood my basement because I thought I had the system shut down properly. In fact, he came out yesterday to winterize it since we are officially under freeze warnings for a while.

We plowed the remains of the garden under, hopefully any nutrients left will return to the soil and it will prevent the opossum from finding our farm a habitual resting place. It’s like fighting an angry tenant at this point, he regularly goes in and chases the cats away from their food unless we leave the shed lights on, will sneak into the equipment workshop and throw every tool and stored item on the ground, and will now taunt the chickens from the mesh roof of their run, since we leave the lights on in there as well, and no longer easily come in. I’ve been looking into lower cost lighting for the outbuildings, which I needed to do anyway, but it’s a priority now since darn near every light has to be left on to protect the farm animals. And honestly, our sanity, since it’s really disheartening to have to clean up thousands of nuts and screws off the floor every time that crazy rodent goes in and rips the shelving units off the walls. Did I mention he’s easily pushing 20 lbs? He’s gotten quite comfy helping himself to my produce and unfortunately, several of my chickens. The jerk. He even scared off the sprinkler guy for a while. I thought I was going to have to break in a new one. Do you know how hard it is to find a good sprinkler guy? Ugh. The best part of all of this craziness is the little guy is no longer afraid of us, so the tables have turned, and we’ve developed this odd sentimentality towards him that is absolutely not reciprocated. All in all, a very weird situation.

If you can ignore that I am incapable of selfies, I thought you might enjoy my “proof” for the tack store, so I can purchase dewormer sometime in the next couple weeks. Not pictured, Nellie nearly wiping me out seconds before we got the shot because she got too excited about selfies.
I had to “convince” her to hold still for me, she was really focused on eating some grass and I was blocking the way

I managed to make some cinnamon rolls since I have been craving them for about a week. They weren’t from scratch or anything, didn’t have time for that, but they were very tasty and lasted in my house less than 24 hours. My family is very strongly hinting at my making them again, but I’m running low on baking supplies and need to make a grocery run first. Especially because every time I use powdered sugar it goes literally everywhere and gets into everything. That particular product runs out very quickly.

As of the writing of this blog, we are still awaiting the arrival of a new family member, my cousin is having another little girl and she’s set to make her arrival any time. This will be my cousins third little girl and she is so excited to be growing her family again. Her older two are four years old and five years old and little spitfires to boot. They love coming out to the farm and playing with the animals, “helping” in the garden, investigating whatever new toys I’ve put in the toy boxes, and generally getting so dirty that I feel a little badly putting them back in their mom’s car.  Not all that terribly though, because clothes wash but childhood farm memories are forever. Trust me.

As a protip, if you live on a farm, dollar store toys are your friend. Let’s face it, balls will pop, dolls will take dirt baths, crayons will get mashed into your fences and porch railings (my fridge is partially purple because apparently even goof-off can’t remove crayon from a textured white fridge. I dunno, I think it adds something to the kitchen). The dollar tree in my area gets a lot of my business because at least twice a year I go a little crazy on the toy section to refill our stock (and update it as the girls get older and new arrivals join, age-appropriate toys are a must). And I pick up new toys here and there all year long to replace or improve. Usually in the spring I walk out with a whole load of balls, jump ropes, chalk, hula hoops, and whatever yard games I can find, and in the winter, I restock on crayons, little dolls, and those plastic food and utensils sets. The girls absolutely love those. I like that it saves my pots and pans a little wear and tear from rambunctious play.

The dollar store is also great for basic stationary supplies, holiday decor, and some kitchen accessories and baking supplies. I’m a big proponent of the “buy cheap and if you break it buy expensive” rule for kitchen gadgetry, and honestly, some of the stuff I’ve picked up at the dollar store outlived my nice utensils. The holiday decor is great as long as you get there early, in my area the Halloween stuff is out and picked through usually by mid-August.

Well, I think that’s all there is for me this week, as we get into the colder season, I’m going to have to get creative about the work on the farm, and I guess I should start working on all the indoor household projects that I’ve been putting off. Time to get organized for the colder months, I think.

Until we chat again, my friends!

Punkins’

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Pumpkins! Look at these pumpkins! Aren’t they cute? We took a couple to my uncle’s so they could decorate too, as well as some other produce. I don’t know if they will make it to Halloween, but I do think they brighten up the porch for the fall! They also prompted me to take a few minutes to myself with my camera, which hasn’t happened in a little while due to the craziness of the harvest season. Unfortunately, my editing software isn’t playing nice so those photos will have to wait for the next post, these were taken with my smartphone.

  • This photo won’t keep it’s intended aspect ratio… why?

I gotta say, while they don’t hold up as well overall, in most cases I am pretty impressed with the photos that come out of my phone’s camera. I’ve heard the newer phones are even better at that. Not as fun as exploring with a DSLR though, and no one can call or text my camera, so it still wins.

Watson was helping
“Mom, worry about the pumpkins later, let’s go play!!!!”

Speaking of craziness and cameras, I had a rapidly growing list of photoshoots my cousins wanted, namely two pregnancy shoots and a mother daughter shoot, and I thought “Why not pack them all into one day, since they are all sisters, we can make it a family event”. Good news, it was so much fun, and a lot of the photos turned out cute, the only downside was it was about a 4-hour nonstop process, and I was thoroughly exhausted by the time we were done. I had taken about 3000 photos? (The kiddos were all five and under so, much like with animals, sometimes you just have to furiously snap and hope you got something). I also picked up a little bit of a sunburn, because I wasn’t paying attention while roaming my aunt’s gardens in hunt for “the perfect backdrop”.

As I get those edited, if I get permission from the girls, I might be able to share those photos, or at least some of them. I don’t like to post other’s faces without permission, although that seems to be a dying sentiment as I often have to track down family members and explain why I really would prefer that picture of me taken down. Why are they never flattering? Maybe that’s a sentiment I don’t want to chase.

Honestly, I still maintain that photographing people is really stressful. I definitely think I’m getting better, and Lord knows I have enough family members that there’s never a lack of practice options, but I always worry that someone will be offended. I always make a point to return the candids with the fancy posed shots, so hopefully people are too busy laughing to notice that my editing skills need some work. I have super beautiful cousins too, so that definitely helps, instantly makes the photo better when the subject naturally lends itself to looking good.

My aunt gave me some pears this weekend as well, and I think I might make some pear bread with them. They are a different variety than I am used to but I’m sure it’ll probably be fine, right? Or it’ll be not fine, and we shall never speak of it again. So, ya know, the stakes are fairly low. I think I’ll make some pumpkin bread too, if I have all the ingredients. I hope so, as pumpkin bread is my all-time favorite bread. Either way, if they turn out, I’ll share the photos, if you never see it mentioned again, you can safely assume it went the way of that doomed cobbler and we can pretend it was never a thought.

Nellie Belle had her Gotcha Day this 26th! She got the day off, and lots of pats, apples, and carrots! She’s been my good girl for three years now, and I honestly can’t hardly believe how far she’s come. From the scared, underfed, little critter who shied away from everyone, would barge into me if I got too close, and called mournfully after every train that went by, to the bold, sassy little mare with a little bit of a tummy and a penchant for pickpocketing, she’s blossomed into an absolute riot to have around. She calls after us each time someone comes home, chases the lawnmower (from behind the fence, she’s safe, promise), and gently bullies her Uncle Christopher. To be fair, he dishes it just as much. He will walk out on the porch, stretch, and then absolutely bellow “NELLIE BELLE” at the top of his lungs. Which is usually followed by Nellie whinnying back and running toward the fence because she knows he will sneak her some cookies. They make quite the pair.

I seem to be having a hard time getting most of my photos to post this week, so there will be more Nellie Belle to come in the next few posts, but please enjoy this lovely one of my mom and Ro giving Nellie gotcha day hugs

This coming weekend I’m planning on hanging out and getting some winterizing done. It’s getting cold enough that I need to hook up the heat lamps and the water trough heater. Stay tuned for barn cleaning and prep antics.

Literally the only tree turning colors on the farm. I’m hoping to update the banner soon, but for now we stay summer themed

Until we chat again, my friends!

Where the Watermelons Grow

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hi friends!

Been a lower key week, except for work, but I’ve been working on a big feature launch so longer hours are required for now. Luckily it came about after the busyness of Labor Day, so the few weeks on long days are slightly more tolerable. I just get antsy sitting in one place for too long, but the work is fun for the most part.

The garden is in full swing! We have the last of the okra, a ton of beans, lots of pumpkins, and finally some eggplant are starting to grow! I am so excited! I think we planted the pumpkins a little too early, I really don’t think we have a good chance of having Halloween pumpkins, however that’s no real bother because pumpkins can be enjoyed at any time. The eggplant are just starting to come together, so now it’s time to find some good recipes! Let me know if you have any yummy ways to cook eggplant! I personally like it roasted, with a little seasoning, and in baba ghanoush! I want to try homemade baba ghanoush this year, so fingers crossed I get some good eggplant for it.

The animals have been pretty good lately. Scooby has developed a concentrated apathy towards the rules and a disdain for any correction, but that really shouldn’t surprise me. Joe had a birthday earlier in the month and while the calendar says five years old, the energy says puppy dog. He’s been a little touchy as a lot of the wildlife have come back down from the hills with the colder temperatures, and right back onto the farm. Watson is slowly but surely becoming more comfortable with being the smallest dog, he will always be mama’s shadow though, I think.

Ro has been fighting an intermittent injury, I think I have it pinned down to some weaker muscles in her topline, so we are trying to find our best solution to that. She’s also been testing the waters a little to see how much she can push her mom before she gets in trouble. Turns out it’s cantering away from the mounting block uninvited. That’s my breaking point haha, and we practiced calmly standing for mounting and dismounting as the remainder of our ride. Here’s hoping she got the hint, because a bareback canter before you’ve settled is very much not ideal. Miss Nel is coming up on her Gotcha Day, which we are very excited about! Three Years an Aldrich as it turns out, and what a busy three years it’s been. We had a guest this week who hadn’t seen her in a couple years and was absolutely shocked at the outgoing, sweet, bubbly little personality she was, considering she hid for his entire last visit. Her leg is looking worlds better too, and I am now starting to feel more comfortable putting her back into some work. Seems like it’s mostly a product of the heat, but very annoying nonetheless, so I’m glad it’s solving itself.

One of the workers from the local research post stopped by while we were out in the garden a couple days ago and gave us three huge watermelon! The station has a little community garden for its workers, and they grew more produce this year than they could eat! Honestly, those watermelon were so big I ended up giving one to my grandma and one to my uncle, so they could enjoy as well. I made a watermelon feta salad one night and it was so good! I think I’m going to grill some tomorrow, and maybe make watermelon slushies.  Going to be soooo tasty! I also want to try the salad again but with different methods. I sort of made it up as I went along and it was tasty, but the finesse wasn’t there, my chives were too big, and my mint probably should have been muddled. But hey, that’s learning for ya.

It’s getting colder around here now. I saw my breath for the first time this morning, and I don’t imagine I have many warm afternoons left, it’s always a little melancholy to lose the last of summer, even though the holidays are fun. This summer baby always needs a couple days to mourn the sunshine and endless sunsets. I have officially pulled out my little space heater to set up by my desk, it is in fact running as we speak. It’s not even that it’s so cold yet outside, but I live with one of those confounding humans that feels the need to live in the frostbitten north all year and when the temperatures drop and the AC is still running, it’s no longer Amanda friendly in the house. So, workspace is now a doors-closed, heater-on, warmth-capturing space, and you better come in and stay awhile, because standing in the doorway letting out my heat is a grievous crime.

I think it’s work-from-under-the-comforter time, so I’ll leave this here. I hope you are all warm and cozy, with sweaters and ciders and all the warm, bright trappings of the early fall.

(When the leaves start changing around here, I’ll update the site banner again, sticking with our seasonal changes)

Until we chat again my friends!

August 20th is Fascinating

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

It’s fall, y’all!

Okay, it’s not, and I’m sorry, but now it’s out of my system. But I’m fully bought in on flannel, coffee, pumpkins, baked goods, and sitting down to write the next great American novel (because that’s what you do all autumn long yes? Along with crocheting cute things and cuddling everything with any body heat at all?). I’m preparing, I’ll be ready for the full autumn experience.

Realistically, it is not quite yet fall, and realistically, I’m very okay with a longer slope into fall that allows me to hold on to my summer times just a little longer, but August 20th has hit, and despite the fact that it catches me off guard every year, I’ve learned that’s the cutoff day.

Do I sound crazy? Let me explain.

When you live in rural areas, you learn very quickly to put little stock in your tv forecast and much stock in your local farmer’s feelings on the subject. Most TV forecasters are lovely humans who are primarily focused on the areas in which their prime viewership lives, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, in fact, it makes sense to share information about where it will do the most good, but it doesn’t always help us that live way out in the boonies. So, often our weather is a little different than they suggest on the tv.

On the other hand, the farmers, ranchers, and random old gentlemen who make a habit of coming into town to have coffee and reminisce? They have it on lock. They can tell you what the forecast will bring, if it needs prepping for, and how much snow you should plan to shovel just by the look of that one tree on the south side of their farm or the way the crickets chortled that morning. One guy will say the arthritis in his knee says rain, and the other will tell you the cattle talk of storms rolling in.

“Mooooom, it’s too early to wooooork, and it’s coooooold! Moooooom, you’re the woooooorst!! ….Can I have cookies and a brush though? I’m awful cute and definitely deserve it” – Nellie, anytime I try to work them before 8 am lately

My family has its own legends on how to tell the weather, there’s a specific mountain peak I wait to clear before I plant my garden, and I learned to listen to the wind’s whistled tone for potential storms coming, as well as watching how the animals act to see if it’ll be a dry or wet storm. When the birds’ nest in, you should too, and if you walk out and the air is just all sorts of wrong, it’s time to secure everything, high wind is on its way. But the biggest and by far the most reliable legend, says that the weather fundamentally changes on August 20th each year, at least here in the valley, and no matter how long the summer lasts, after that day the nights really start getting longer and colder in earnest, the plants make plans to rest, and your sunny warm days are numbered. It’s been right on time every year thus far, and I don’t think it’ll change any time soon.

Ro wants you to know that she was totally justified in trying to steal cookies through the fence, and alsoI’m very mean for not moving the scary tarp that came undone in the wind storm again.

The valley is that orange soft fall wrapped up in warm nostalgia and slightly burned coffee. Absolutely full of fresh harvests, warm drinks, farmer’s markets and hayrides. Fall festivals and bazaars and anything else you can think of. I am very excited about the prospect of peach cobbler. I make it homemade, and not many each year because it’s a lot of work to peel the peaches, but it is my uncle’s favorite thing. Last year I prepped all my peaches, got everything put together, it smelled so good, everything was perfect…… and then I dropped it pulling it from the oven and spilled the whole unset thing on the bottom of the oven. I cried, my house stunk like burning peaches, and I didn’t try again. Luckily the dish itself survived to bake another day. So, this year, everyone is very excited for my peach cobbler since it’s two years waiting, and I’ve had several people offer to put it in and take it out of the oven for me, so I’m all covered there.

I’ve also got several requests for pumpkin bread. That isn’t a specifically fall recipe, but it is a much more common occurrence in the fall. The flavors just make sense during the cooling, blustery months. It’s my mom’s old recipe, I think she probably got it from my grandma, but I am honestly not certain. It’s super easy, I made the mistake of teaching my younger brother to make it and every once in a great while, I come home to a disaster kitchen and loaves upon loaves of bread. At least he’s good at it so it’s tasty.

My brother has a much appreciated habit of sending me animal photos when he knows I’m in a scary or stressful meeting. This was a rare Joe-Scooby cuddle, when they share a bed, you know it’s getting chilly. Photo Credits to Christopher

Well, I’ve thoroughly made myself hungry, so I think I’ll wrap it here. Maybe when I get around to some baking, I’ll also get around to some recipe sharing, and some photos. Life should be slowing down, and I should be out of the sling and more independent again soon, which will hopefully mean taking my actual DSLR out and about again. Such a pleasant thought.

Until we chat again, my friends!

Goodbye, My Little Buddy

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

TW: Animal Loss, Pet Loss

I was told once, shortly after my beloved childhood dog passed, that the unimaginably hard goodbyes are the cost of immeasurable love and years of the best companionship possible that only animals can offer us.

Friday night I had to rush Sherlock to the vet because he suddenly, with no warning, collapsed and stopped breathing. We were able to get him to breathe on his own long enough to arrive at the vet where they tried their absolute best to diagnose and save my little guy.

Unfortunately, there is not much to be done when a brain aneurysm ruptures and the brain is rapidly bleeding. We were told it would be the same outcome, whether we waited for a natural end or not, so we said our goodbyes and my sweet little angel went peacefully to heaven wrapped in my arms.

I’m not handling it well. I’m not, I can’t lie. My sweet pack is lost without it’s littlest member, and I am having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that in less than a half hour, we went from a happy bouncing little critter to giving last kisses. I treat each animal with the same attention, love, and care I do the humans in my family, and at the moment, I feel like a pretty awful pet parent, even though logically I’m aware there wasn’t anything to be done differently.

I desperately miss my little cuddle bug. I miss his gentle paw pets when he wanted attention, and being woken up at 8 am on Saturdays by little tippy taps, and I really miss his “smother Mom in kisses” approach to whisking away sadness. One day these will be happy, warm memories, but at the moment they are also somewhat pointed.

My little bean was 5 years old, he just had his birthday the Monday before. He loved to shout, and cuddle, and chase his brothers. He liked to stash his food under the living room furniture, boss his mom around, and was a serious, professional sunshine napper. But unbeknownst to us, he had more disabilities due to his malicious breeding than we had thought. I knew when Sherlock and Watson came to me that rescuing them out of a puppy mill meant some possible health issues, and unfortunately, we believe that was what ultimately led to the aneurysm. The good news is, even with he couple surgeries he needed, and the cataract he developed, he was the happiest, most content little dog ever, and I truly believe he had the best life he possibly could have. I am so beyond grateful that his five short years on earth were mine to treasure, and even knowing that outcome, I’d do it all again. He was a very special critter.

Some day, maybe soon, I’d love to share some of my favorite Sherlock memories with all of you, and perhaps devote a whole post to the love of my little dude, but right now I am choosing to step away from the internet and focus on my pack and finding our new normal. The constant barrage of information, and especially news, is just not helpful at the moment. I am hoping this won’t impact the post frequency of this blog, but if I miss a week or two, please know that I’ll be back shortly, and that I will most definitely miss our chats while we figure this all out.
Until we chat again, my friends.

Loved Always

It’s Too Warm!

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hi friends!
It’s hot today! It’s actually one of the cooler days this week though. It’s unseasonably warm, today is 98 degrees, usually we are happily sitting mid eighties around late may early June, but this week we hit 106. I wish I was joking.
I’ve had to modify a lot about my schedule this week, which I am super aware that I am lucky enough to work in a job and in an industry that allows for flexible work schedules. It makes farm life much easier when I don’t have to stress as much about scheduling vet visits or farm chores (or repairmen, or more vet visits).
Usually I start work between 5:30 and 6 am in the morning, I know that sounds crazy, but hear me out, I am usually feeling like I put in a good days work around 2:30 or 3 pm in the afternoon and I still have so much day left! This is especially nice when the days are super short in the winter time and the sunlight leaves us at 4 pm. I get just a little more cranky than usual when I don’t get to see the sun. It’s a little easier to get up in the dark when you get a reward.

Dad and his little flock of weed eaters. They take their job very seriously, but are scared of the camera, so I have to sneak pictures.

With it being absolutely melty outside by 2 pm now, I have opted this week to exercise the horses and work on chores before work, which is also pleasant, because I feel super accomplished before even signing in. The downside is, I’m all gross and tired by 7 am. A fair trade off I think.
Ro feels fundamentally very differently than I do. She is not a fan of mornings, and has been pretty vocal about not enjoying 6 am rides. She’s a good sport, she’s been hanging in there and getting our exercise in, but we’ve thrown a few more bucks and kicks, less willing to lead out on rides, and she’s not as easily swayed by cookies. It’s totally fair, we all are a little cranky in the mornings.
I’m not naturally a morning person, so I feel her pain, but I am definitely a “get everything done early so I don’t have to worry about it” kinda person. I love crossing things off that to-do list.
I also can totally see why some people really gravitate toward morning rides, it’s a very fun way to start a morning. I could see it being very peaceful, if your mare isn’t angrily pointing out the sun hasn’t crested the hill yet (it’s light out, I just live next to a large hill, I’m not completely heartless).

Look at how pink and pretty it is in the morning! The sky gets super pink and orange and my phone’s auto setting just didn’t know how to handle it (Also, for some reason wordpress is mangling the quality on upload, not a clue as to why)

Sherlock has recently found out that if he squeezes through the porch rail slats and reaches around, he can sneakily get off the porch and go exploring. This is a big old worry for many reasons. One, Sherlock has literally no equipment or animal smarts, his go-to when frightened is to shrink and hide, especially bad because Ro is not super dog-friendly, she had a bad experience. Two, he’s so tiny that he’s perfect hawk food, which is less than ideal. Finally, I spent a lot of time and research finding a gate solution for that porch to keep him (and his brothers) safe, and I am miffed he’s found a workaround. So, now I am going to weave in some bailing twine to create a soft wall that hopefully he can get around. I’ll run the twine through the gate slats and the offending porch slats just in case.
Speaking of sneaky animals, Nellie has worked out that if she messes at it long enough, she can usually get the arena/corral gate open and closed at her will. Luckily she doesn’t seem interested in playing with exterior gates, but she’s definitely busted the arena/corral gate. I need to figure out how there’s now an inch gap between the gate part and fence part of the latch.
I can’t blame her, Ro and I have been working on opening gates from horseback so we can let Nellie in the arena while cooling out and so we can handle gates on trail rides. I think Nellie just wanted to show off that she’s been paying attention too. It is honestly mind-blowing how smart this horse is when she’s not losing her mind over something spooky.
The beans have started to come up in the garden! They are growing like gangbusters! Well, I think, I don’t really know for certain what that means.

go gangbusters

If something is going gangbusters, it is going strongly and doing very well. If someone comes on like gangbusters, they behave very energetically and sometimes aggressively. [Collins Dictionary]

Peas and okra are maybe starting to come up slowly, and the pumpkins, watermelon, and carrots are now in the ground! Lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers are being started in pots on the porch. All that’s left is the eggplant I think… although I feel like I’m forgetting something. I’ll have to ask Dad. He’s made a bunch of little signs out of the packages, but they aren’t quite ready to go up yet, when they do that will help a lot with identifying veggies.

Happy Little Bean Plant!

We’ve been seeing our hummingbirds lately which is such fun each year. When we don’t have their sugar water up, they come fly between windows until they see a human, and then they tap on the window until you pay them attention.
Public Service Announcement! Red Dye isn’t super great for hummingbirds, so make sure if you are buying hummingbird liquid that you check with your local vet that it is actually hummingbird safe. Boiling certain veggies in your water first will naturally dye it red, I’ve had luck with beets, but I’ve heard cabbage might work too. Bright side is that you also have cooked veggies now, although beets are absolutely the worst so you’ll have to find someone who likes them.
I made homemade spatzle this week! That is the stickiest batter I have ever made, and it turns out that spatzle makers are absolutely not a silly kitchen gadget. I made my spatzle by pressing the better through a colander, and that was a mistake. The spatzle was delicious, I ended up sautéing it in butter, garlic, and rosemary, but I also destroyed every dish in my kitchen. It was super tasty though, so maybe worth it. To be determined.
Homemade gnocchi was a lot easier and cleaner, despite the fact that potato starch gets into everything. It also seems more shelf stable, although I’ve never really had to store any for long. I might make up a batch this weekend, I want to try a new recipe.
Anyways, I’m going to go find the big box fan so I can use my porch again, and I am hoping for cooler weathers moving forward. That pretty much sums up my weekend plans. Hope you had a great week and are looking towards a fun and relaxing weekend.
Until we chat again, my friends!


Meet the Pack!

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

(or alternatively titled: Why My Windows Are Always Dirty)

Happy Friday, Friends!
We had a veterinary emergency this week, which overshadowed everything about the farm. Don’t worry, it turned out fine, but in order to not go on and on and dwell about the scary situation, I have promised to spend no more than one paragraph explaining it and then on to happy things! We will be back to the farm fun next time.
So, Miss Nellie Belle colicked Easter Weekend. For my non-horsey friends, colic basically just encompasses any serious gastrointestinal distress. That kind of thing is incredibly dangerous in horses because they usually cannot deal with blockages, twists, or even simply an over-abundance of gas on their own, and it can be fatal in about 50% of cases in a matter of hours. Of course she colicked after hours, so I couldn’t get a hold of any vet in the valley, but my dear friend and farrier Jimmie came to the rescue. It pays to have angels as friends, I swear. But, after a very scary night, and a sleepless 24 hours, by Monday morning she was starting to feel completely normal again. I, on the other hand, have several new grey hairs, and lost a number of years off my life, and now spend a large part of my time finding excuses to walk out to the barn at all hours of the day and night. This has also taught me that I need to really beef up my emergency kit, so expect a post coming soon about that.

Don’t like the weather? Give it 5 minutes

Okay, now onto the regularly scheduled programming. I’ve been thinking about this post for a bit, and I think it may be time to introduce you to the pack, since they take up about 70% of my time and 98% of my camera roll. There’s four dogs in total in my pack currently, ranging from 4.5 years old to my “April baby” almost 14 year old. Let’s get started.
So, oldest in our pack, is my very special boy Scooby-Doo. Scooby is technically my brother’s dog, but to be honest, they’re all mine when the rubber hits the road because I’m the “fur mama” with the toughest stomach and softest voice. That’s not to say my brother isn’t incredibly involved and engaged with the critters, I’m just usually the final word. Scooby is almost fourteen, he has a birthday this coming week! He is missing all but one tooth, unfortunately he misjudged a step and knocked most of them out, and when we went to get those fixed, we found out the Bishon Frise curse had struck and many of his teeth needed to be pulled anyway. Despite this he is a big eater, and has slowed down as a senior citizen but still enjoys a good case of zoomies. He has middling patience with his younger brothers, but to his credit, they are about a decade younger. Scooby’s best friend in the world was my childhood pupper Winchester, who we lost in 2015, and Scooby and I mourned together for about a year before we decided to adopt a puppy. Well, I decided… Scooby was not totally game. In Winchester’s senior years he had started to become hard of hearing and blind, and while he was a very happy dog, that was in part because Scooby was his persistent buddy. I thought a puppy might give Scooby his sense of purpose back, and help me move forward.

Scooby isn’t one for his adoring public, he hides his face in most pictures

But then, in the course of a week, I goofed. I came home with three (3) puppies… no, I’m not joking. I had promised to take in Joe when he was old enough, and the week he came up due, I also ended up pulling my two little guys, Sherlock and Watson, out of a puppy mill situation… and suddenly I was a dog-mom of four.
Joe Friday, more commonly known as Joe-Joe around here, is a 90lb, almost 4 foot tall poodle. He made my aunt’s great dane look normal. His head rests on my kitchen counters. Poodles don’t generally get that big, and he’s actually purebred and papered so I know he’s a poodle (it was a friend of a friend situation, how Joey came into our lives), but we forgot to tell him to stop growing. When he was a pup, he ate a large river stone, and on top of a pretty intense surgery, spend some of his formative months wearing a muzzle… because I continued to have to pull rocks out of his mouth all of the time! It took forever for him to grow out of that and I spent so much on tests and treats to make sure he wasn’t looking for nutrients or something… nope, just liked eating rocks.
Joey loves his toys, and we have to buy the tough chewer toys so they last a while because he is an enthusiastic player. He’s got the sweetest eyes, is unbelievably gentle with his brothers, and no one has the heart to tell him he’s big, so he’s also a very accomplished lapdog. He’s been formally diagnosed with ADHD by two different vets, and is the spoiled baby of the pack as the youngest. I get lots of weird looks when I say his “big brothers” occasionally bully him, because they are 2 and 4 pound poodles.

  • Joe, on the other hand, is a massive camera hog

Sherlock and Watson were the two little teacup poodles that came out of that mill. They are half brothers, so different and yet very similar. They are absolutely certain the world revolves around them, and that’s entirely my fault. Sherlock is about 2 pounds and stands about 8 inches tall, he is mostly a quiet little bean who likes to sleep in sweatshirt pockets and eats like Joe. He is a blanket thief and he really doesn’t bark, he more just yells at a pitch that could break glass when he gets excited. He swings wildly between “I’m so little, please rescue me from everything” to “I’m big and scary and you should fear me”, there is no telling what Sherlock you’re going to get. He was born with two full sets of teeth, which was a fun conversation with the vet, and more recently spent some time in emergency because he blew up an adrenal gland, I have no idea how. The vet wrote a scientific journal post about Sherlock because he was the smallest critter to have that delicate a surgery in that clinic.
He also just walked in and demanded to be a part of this writing session, so now I have a bean curled up in my lap. He says hi!

In case you needed cuteness overload

Watson (or Watty, or Wats) is in some ways a direct opposite of his brother. He was a little runt, terrified of everything when he first came home, and out first interaction was him puking on me. About a week later I was rushing to grab him off the back of the couch mid jump, he’s pushing around all his brothers, and he has this odd little grunt he does to get attention. Oh boy, does this dog need attention! He has made himself known in several zoom meetings, serious phone calls, and a couple DnD sessions. Watty is a big fan of cuddles, to the point where if he can’t be sitting on my lap he will go have a yell about it. He’s a little chunk of a dude, shorter than his brother but densely packed.
He also just came blowing into the room, but now he’s chasing the little typing pointer, so I think I’ll need to end this here.

Watty, chasing the mouse

In summation, Nellie is okay, very loved. I am going to have a head full of grey hairs by thirty, and my pack says hi!
Until we chat again, my friends!

(More random dog photos below)